The first day of classes at college has always been a long day. Sometimes I’m a little nervous going to new classes, being around new people, and I always hate the silence before class starts. All you can really do in that silence is read the syllabus, and they’re usually pretty ugly.

Teachers don’t normally care about the design that goes into a syllabus. Some have tried to look like they’re fun and cute, and opt for Comic Sans (hold on while I throw up in my mouth. Ok I swallowed it). Others go for a photocopy of a photocopy of a photocopy, and think that they’re getting away with it. At any rate, I’m usually pretty turned off by these things, but today– my first day of classes at California College of the Arts– was different.

I recieved my first ever beautiful syllabus. Note the strict adherence to a two-column grid, the perfect line heights, and the simple choice of Helvetica. I also like the big page numbers. I did a very similar treatment on the page numbers for my portfolio. She probably stole it from me…

In private, I told my professor how much I liked the syllabus, and she sort of blew me off. It was like she was thinking, “What did you expect, an ugly syllabus? Who do you think I am?”

The syllabus was a great start to what I’m sure will be an amazing class. I can’t wait to get started on my first project, but that’s another post.